sabina munteanu-wozniak

what do you *have* to do today?

Having something to do is certainly a relative term, however, it’s amazing how due to this particular misuse trends become rules, and rules becomes ways of life. Constantly assigning tasks to a higher purpose or a higher purpose is actually a lack of responsibility and courage – admit that you want to do those things, because you prefer that “deal” – you prefer doing them rather than facing the consequences of not doing them.

What struck me today was the constant “have to” of life when I overheard a conversation in regards to studies: “You have to get that master’s degree? / Why? / I don’t know, you have to, you never know when you might need it”. And it’s valid for most things:

You don’t have to be good at something, you just have to have a diploma to prove that you might know it.

You don’t have to be a good student, you don’t even have to like what you’re studying. You just have to have a degree.

To be frank, we’re all lazy – we rely on papers to tell us how good someone is rather than see for ourselves. And we’ve created an entire system on that.

You’re a great programmer? Okay, what’s your portfolio?

You’re a social media expert? How did you help improve things in the past?

You’re a beginner? What are your ideas?

Same goes for trends – you have to have an iPad, but most rarely think why. The tablet is an incredible piece of engineering, but only for those that truly know how to use it. It’s however trendy for all that have it, because nowadays, it’s generally trendy.

Why not take charge, face responsibilities and say what you like to do, what you want to do, and sometimes (quite rarely actually) what you need to do. And then you might just be in charge of the things you do.